Press Releases

2020 Lowell Milken-PCF Young Investigator Award Announced

December 16, 2020

LOS ANGELES, Calif., December 16, 2020 – The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) today announced the Class of 2020 Young Investigator Award recipients totaling $6 million in funding for innovative prostate cancer research.

PCF Young Investigator Awards are intended to identify a cohort of future research leaders who will keep the field of prostate cancer research vibrant with new ideas and offer career and project support for early career physicians and scientists who are committed to advancing the prostate cancer field. Twenty-seven PCF Young Investigator Awards totaling $6 million were granted to the promising next generation of cancer researchers.

This year the 2020 Lowell Milken-PCF Young Investigator Award was given to Dr. Wayne Brisbane, of the University of California, Los Angeles for his project titled: Micro-Ultrasound and MRI Investigation of Human Prostate Cancer

Micro-ultrasound is a new imaging technology that has a 300% improvement in resolution compared to traditional ultrasound, and thus is highly promising for enabling visualization of prostate cancer. Dr. Wayne Brisbane is studying the potential for micro-ultrasound in prostate cancer imaging.

In this project, Dr. Brisbane will conduct a clinical trial to compare micro-ultrasound to MRI and to the final pathology following prostate removal. In this trial, patients scheduled for radical prostatectomy will obtain pre-operative micro-ultrasound and MRI evaluations. A machine-learning algorithm will be developed to aid clinicians with diagnosing prostate cancer in real-time, possibly enabling micro-ultrasound use as a type of male mammogram. The potential for integrating micro-ultrasound-based treatment monitoring into technologies like HIFU for prostate cancer will be investigated. If successful, this study will be foundational in evaluating if micro-ultrasound is equivalent to MRI.

Dr. Brisbane is studying the potential for a novel imaging technology, micro-ultrasound, for detection and prognosis of prostate cancer. This may lead to better optimization of treatment selection and improved outcomes for patients.

To learn more about all of the award recipients, visit the PCF.org website.